This Is The Time To Remember
by shortie is back
Summary: Ya can't be a newsie forever... Sometimes ya just gotta grow up and move on. Can Mush handle the transition into adulthood, or will he still cling to the past? R/R!!! *Gift-Wrapped Newsies to me reviewers!!!*


Disclaimer- Don't own the song, don't own Billy Joel, Don't own Newsies, don't own Mush, (unless I break out the ski mask and kidnap him…) Racetrack, Kid Blink, Kloppman, or anyone else. Did anyone think I did? Oh wait! I own the little Newsie and the homeless guy who each have one line! YAY!

L/N- Hm, I think I may have taken a wrong turn somewhere and ended up in _Chicken Soup for the Newsie Soul. This is already my second (song) fic about 'finding yourself' or however you'd want to classify it. It's to the song __This__ is the Time to Remember by Billy Joel. Great song, go download it.  I already started another one to __I'm Already There by Lonestar, and I'm trying to make one to another RENT song. I'm deciding between __I'll Cover You (Reprise) and I __Seasons of Love. I tried to do __La Vie Boheme, but it was too confusing. _

This is a little deeper than my other fic and leaves a lot of loose ends, especially with Blink and Racetrack. I'm thinking of writing other song fics from their point of view. Tell me what you think. Also, I'm thinking of doing a sequel about Kloppman. 

**This is the Time to Remember**

_We walked on the beach beside that old hotel…_

_They're tearing it down now…_

_But it's just as well…_

_I haven't shown you everything a man can do…_

_So stay with my, baby…_

_I've got plans for you…_

It's strange. One day you can have everything, and the next nothing. One day, in your mind, you can rule the world! Be the King of New York! But then suddenly… *snap* it's gone.

The lodging house had never looked more like home to Mush than it did right now. For the past ten years, it had been his life. It had been the only time he could remember being happy. 

He wished he could somehow trap that happiness he had felt all those years. Keep it in a jar and use it to fill the hole he could feel forming in his heart. A hole where the lodging house and his friends used to be.

"Hey, Buddy! Ya look like ya'd lost ya best friend or somet'ing!" A bum called from across the street. Mush gave the man a weak, sad smile before turning back to the lodging house.

_You'se__ got no idea… He wasn't only losing one best friend, he was losing most of his friends. Crutchy, Boots, Jack, Davey, Skittery… It was all over. Mush knew this day would come. He had known it for a wwhile now, but he never wanted to believe it. He still couldn't bring himself to accept the fact that this was it. He couldn't be a newsie forever._

_This is the time to remember…_

_Cause it will not last forever…_

_These are the days to hold on to…_

_Cause we won't although we'll want to…_

What was he going to do now? Were the plans he had made with Race and Blink really what he wanted? Should he stay in New York? Go to Jersey? How about Santa Fe? From the way Jack always described it, the place didn't sound half bad… but no. He wasn't Jack. He was Mush. He was a New Yorker; there was no doubt about that. But how could he stay here? Walk by his old home day after day; see younger boys doing _his job… could he handle that? __Mush, you'se twenty yeahs old now. It's time to grow up. Get a real__ job. Make some money. Find a goil…settle down…_

It killed his to think like that. If only he were a few years younger… he winced, thinking about all the times he had complained about his job. _Guess you'se don't know what you'se got until it's gone… He thought, trying to swallow the lump that had just risen in his throat._

_This is the time…_

_But time is gonna change…_

_You've given me the best of you…_

_And now I need the rest of you…_

"Mush, ya ready ta go?"

"Shouah, Blink. Just give me a second." He took one last look at the lodging house. The lump in his throat rose higher and he felt warm tears behind his eyes. He blinked a few times to keep them from spilling over.

"Are you'se _crying?" Blink asked incredulously._

Mush quickly wiped his eyes with his sleeve. "No."

"Yes you'se are… Come heah, Mush." Blink wrapped an arm around his friend's shoulders. "Newsies don't cry."

"But we's ain't Newsies no moah." Mush mumbled.

"You'se really this upset that we's don't have ta hawk headlines anymoah?" 

"I just feel… I feel like I'se losing my family. You guys are like me bruddahs-"

Blink laughed, cutting him off. "Mush, you'se ain't losing us! You, me, and Race are movin' into da apartment taday! You'se not thinking of backin' out now, are you?

"I don't know… It's not gonna be the same. What about da rest of da guys?"

"Mush, it's time ta grow up. You'se can't be a newsie forever. Things change."

"I'se know that."

Blink's expression softened. "Look, Mush, at least you'se got the memories. Those yeahs, they may be da bes of youah life, maybe not. But they's the yeahs ta remember."

_Did you know that before you came into my life…_

_It was some kind of miracle that I survived…_

_Someday we will both look back…_

_And have a laugh…_

_We lived through a lifetime…_

_And the aftermath…___

I'm going to be late tonight. Don't bother waiting up for me." Kid Blink called over his shoulder, as he straightened his tie.

"Deadline?" Race asked from his usual position on the couch.

"Yeah, ever since I missed covering that rally last month Denton's been really hard on me."

"He's just sore because we still haven't paid him back for buying us all lunch everyday back when we were newsies." Race joked, turning back to his books on the races.

"Whatever the case, I really have to go. I'm going to be late." Kid Blink called a goodbye to Mush, who was still getting dressed, and left after grabbing an apple for breakfast.

A few years had passed since that fateful day that they had all said goodbye to the life of peddlin' papes, and since then, everything had changed.

After the retirement of the formet editor, Bryon Denton had been promoted from Ace War Correspondant to the new editor of The Sun. After seeing a sample of Blink's writing, Denton had hired him on the spot as a reporter on one condition: he lose the accent, stop yalking like a street rat. Blink had found that much easier than he thought it would be, as he was now around a much higher class of people.

Racetrack had also left his accent behind with the papers, more or less, although it still sometimes tainted his speech. His love of the track had not been diminished and he now worked in his favorite selling spot: Sheepstead Races.

The only one who had not changed was Mush. His old accent was all but gone, but he couldn't seem to hold down a job. Every week he would get fired for one thing or another. Truth was, his heart just wasn't in it. Kida Blink and Race had easily found something else they loved besides selling, what else was there for Mush?

_This is the time to remember…_

_Cause it will not last forever…_

_These are the days to hold on to…_

_Cause we won't although we'll want to…_

_This is the time…_

_But time is gonna change…_

_You've given me the best of you…_

_And now I need the rest of you…_

"Bye Mush!" he heard Blink call from the kitchen. He snorted lightly at the thought of Kid Blink going to his 'fancy' job with all his 'rich' colleagues. He hated the fact that Blink had become so high and mighty because he now worked for a paper instead of selling them. He hated the fact that Blink was a success and he wasn't.

He was supposed to start a new job today, some job in some store selling something or another. He couldn't even remember anymore, all the jobs seemed to just blend together. All these jobs that he knew he couldn't ever make himself want to do.

Mush made an important decision as he pulled on his pants. He wasn't going to work today. There was someone he had to talk to.

_Sometimes it's so easy…_

_To let a day…___

_Slip on by…_

_Without even seeing each other at all…___

_But this is the time you'll turn back and so will I…_

_And those will be the days you can never recall…_

"Mr. Kloppman?" Mush called out tentatively into the stillness of the lodging house. There was no answer. Mush silently cursed at himself. It was midmorning; all the boys were out selling, why would Kloppman stick around? He'd ruined another job opportunity for nothing.

Angry at himself, Mush kicked at a bed and turned to leave.

"Who's up dere?" an old but strong voice called out.

"Kloppman?" 

"Yeah, dat's me. Who're you?" The old man demanded stepping into the main room.

"It's me, Mush! Remember me? Mush!" Mush said excitedly.

Kloppman peered at him over his glasses, then his face broke into a wide smile. "So it is! I haven't seen you'se in yeahs, Mush! What're you doin' back here?"

"I came to talk to you," He began. "Things ain't going the way I wanted 'em to…"

"Sit down," Kloppman patted the spot next to him on the nearest bed. "Tell me about it."

Finally feeling as though he could open up, Mush poured his heart out to him. He told him all that he had felt over the past few years, struggling from job to job, never being happy with what he was doing, where Blink and Race had found success and happiness so easily.

"The only time I've ever really been happy was when I lived here, as a newsie." Mush finished.

Kloppman was silent for a moment before he spoke. "I'm getting' old, Mush."

Mush nodded, but he hasn't even noticed until now how old Kloppman had really become, how many wrinkles he had accumulated over the years.

"I can't keep lookin' after the boys for much longer."

Again, Mush just nodded, not really sure what Kloppman was getting at.

"Now, I can't just trust this place to anyone. It has ta be someone I know an' trust. Someone who knows what a newsie's life is like. Someone who'll stand by them if they decide ta strike…"

Then it dawned on him. "M-me? You want _me to run the lodging house?"_

"So he finally gets it," Kloppman smiled at him. "Yes, I want you to take over. I can't think of anyone more suited for the job."

_And so we embrace again…_

_Behind the dunes…___

_This beach is so cold…_

_On winter afternoons…___

_But holding you close is like holding the summer sun…_

_I'm warm from the memory of days to come…_

It was all set. Kloppman was retiring next week. That was when Mush would start. It gave him enough time to explain to Blink and Race what was going to happen and to move his stuff back into the place he'd never thought he'd live again. Sure it wasn't some upper-class-hoity-toity des k job like Blink had, but it was something _he wanted to do._

He hadn't felt this happy since he lived in the lodging house during his newsie days. He never would have believed that he'd be going back. _Guess that this is just where I belong. _

A loud cough dragged him away from his thoughs.

"Buy me last pape, Mister?" A feeble voice practically whispered before it was followed by more coughing.

"Not bad, but you might want to make your voice a little more hoarse." He said, to the boy's surprise. And since he was in such a good mood, he gave the young newsie a dollar and took a paper. On the front page he saw Kid Blink's real name in a byline, and flipping through the paper, he found a story on the races with Racetrack's name mentioned several times. _Guess we're all successful now, boys. He thought with satisfaction, and continued on his way to his apartment to tell the other two his good news._

_This is the time to remember…_

_Cause it will not last forever…_

_These are the days to hold on to…_

_Cause we won't although we'll want to…_

_This is the time…_

_But time is gonna change…_

_You've given me the best of you…_

_And now I need the rest of you…_

***

And there you have it. My second attempt at a song fic. I know I'm probably gonna get some arguments about how Mush is out of character, but honestly, I don't see him as only how he was portrayed in the movie. I think that he is deeper than that, and I feel as though he'd be the kind of person to resent change.

Anyway…*Gives humungous hugs to all her Mush!Muses*

You know the drill… click that purty little button down there and give me some nice feedback… PLEASEEEE!!!! *Remember: Whoever reviews gets a gift wrapped newsie… who wouldn't want one of those? And since I'm sooooooo nice, I'll even give away a Mush!Muse*

PS: FFN has so rudely taken down _Watch how the Mighty Will Fall… Honestly, I don't know what was wrong with it… it didn't violate any guidelines as far as I could see… but I'm going to try and re-post it. If they take it down again, I'm going to have it here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Newsie haven/ _

Now, here's where I plug the group because Yahoo isn't putting it in it's directory for some reason and I want members!!! (it's embarrassing, I have one so far) Come join! PLEASE!! You KNOW you want too…

~Lexa~


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